Sensex surges 414 pts on monsoon relief; realty, banks rally

Rising for the seventh straight session, the benchmark BSE Sensex today surged by 414 points to 27,730.21 on rally in realty and banks shares as above normal monsoon reignited hopes of an RBI rate-cut.

In last seven sessions, the index has gained 1,359.23 points, its longest winning run since February. The sentiment was also boosted by firm global cues after Greece gave its creditors new proposals on reforming bailout, fuelling hopes of averting a default and possible exit from the euro zone.

"A better-than-forecasted monsoon has reignited the optimism amongst market participants that a rate-cut by the RBI may be a possibility, if the monsoon trend sustains," said Hitesh Agrawal, Head Research of Reliance Securities.

The 30-share BSE index resumed higher and remained in the positive terrain throughout the day. It hit an intra-day high of 27,782.31 before ending at 27,730.21, a steep rise of 414.04 points or 1.52 per cent -- its biggest single day gain since May 8 when it surged by 506.28.

The broader 50-issue NSE Nifty reclaimed 8,300-mark to hit a intra-day peak at 8,369.45 and settled at 8,353.10, showing a significant rise of 128.15 points or 1.56 per cent.

Of the 30 Sensex stocks, 25 ended with gains.

Top gainers among Sensex included Axis Bank, which surged 3.62 per cent and ICICI Bank zoomed 3.46 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, realty rose the most by surging 5.05 per cent, followed by bankex 2.62 per cent, consumer durables 2.42 per cent, IT 1.86 per cent, power 1.67 per cent, FMCG 1.39 per cent, metal 1.13 per cent and auto 1 per cent.